Haryana's Health Minister Anil Vij came out in Khemka's support, saying he will talk to the Chief Minister regarding the officer "who had worked to weed out corruption during the previous Congress regime".
Whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka, who had pointed out alleged irregularities in allotment of land to Robert Vadra in Haryana, was on Wednesday night transferred yet again for the umpteenth time.
A senior IAS officer, Khemka, who had in November last been posted as Transport Commissioner and Secretary by the Haryana government has now been transferred and given the dual charge of Secretary and Director General, Archaeology and Museums department.
Taking it to micro blogging site, Khemka responded to his transfer. He tweeted, "Tried hard to address corruption and bring reforms in Transport despite severe limitations and entrenched interests. Moment is truly painful"
Terming Ashok Khemka as an honest officer, Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar said, "He (Khemka) has been transferred on administrative grounds, it’s a routine transfer."
Khattar further added, "Depending on the need, officers are transferred."
Meanwhile, Haryana's Health Minister Anil Vij came out in Khemka's support, saying he will talk to the Chief Minister regarding the officer "who had worked to weed out corruption during the previous Congress regime".
Khemka has been transferred 45 times in his nearly 22-year long career, with the officer not occupying any post beyond few months.
When asked about the decision, Vij told reporters in Ambala, "I will talk to the Chief Minister regarding Khemka's transfer."
Vij, an outspoken BJP leader and Ambala Cantt MLA, said that he had always stood by Khemka, "who had worked to weed out corruption during the previous Congress regime".
However, Haryana's Transport Minister Ram Bilas Sharma maintained that "transfer is not a punishment" and stressed that it was a "routine" matter.
"Transfer is not a punishment, a promotion or demotion.
Transfer of senior officers is a routine matter. There is nothing special or extraordinary about it," he said while replying to queries on the issue.
He said decisions are taken after the chief minister holds consultations with his council of ministers.
Notably, as Transport Commissioner, Khemka had refused to issue fitness certificates to over-sized trucks and trailers for carrying automobiles leading to a truckers' strike in January.
Later, the truckers in Haryana withdrew their strike after the state government gave them one year’s time to get their vehicles modified as per the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR), 1989.
Khemka, in a tweet then, had said that "60 per cent of road accidents due to overloaded and over-sized transport vehicles. Industry cooperation needed to stop this road menace."
Khemka also replied to some of the tweets.
Khemka was among the nine IAS officers and one Haryana Civil Service(HCS) officer who were issued transfer and posting orders by the Haryana Government with immediate effect.
Khemka had last Thursday said his action of cancelling a multi-million-rupee land deal between Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, with realty giant DLF has been "vindicated" by a CAG report.
"My action in VADRA-DLF land-license deal vindicated in CAG report, but continue to suffer the stigma of chargesheet," he had tweeted.
At the same time, he said: "Many issues untouched in the CAG report. Cycle of corruption involved the triad - business, politics and bureaucracy."
(With agency inputs)
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